


Drifting

by FukubeSouhei



Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket, All the Wrong Questions - Lemony Snicket
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24289666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FukubeSouhei/pseuds/FukubeSouhei
Summary: Things could have gone right but everything could have gone wrong. Set after ATWQ: All Other Nights
Relationships: Ellington Feint & Lemony Snicket, Ellington Feint/Kit Snicket
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Drifting

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own ATWQ and its wonderful characters.

Ellington's mind could not stop drifting at all the things that have happened before she found herself sitting on the cold, metal floor of the jail cell. She thought about her father and how much shock had hung on her voice when Hangfire was unmasked. Armstrong Feint, her father, turned out to be the notorious villain who had been kidnapping children and stealing honeydew melons in the dying town of Stain'd-by-the-Sea. And as his daughter, she couldn't do anything but watch as he got devoured by a giant myth that clawed its way towards the train compartment.

She hid her face on the crook of her elbows but she can't do anything to hide the occasional sobs she'd make. In those moments she had stayed in Stain'd-by-the-Sea, she never really gave much thought about its people. All she cared about was her father and how she would do anything just to have him back. She never expected that her father would be the one forcing her to do terrible things just to keep her hope alive, pushing her to be in town in the first place.

There was him too, a boy who had intrigued her ever since she saw him fall from a howser and into a tree. If she believes in things like fate, then perhaps she could say that it was that fate that has allowed them to mark their identities in each other's minds. That fate is called the Bombinating Beast. She realized just then that it was that same fate that reduced their great encounter into something as silly as a goodbye. She realized that beast of a fate was the start and end of everything she had. It was the start of a hope she'd acquainted with her father and the entanglement she had with a boy who has a knack of being present whenever trouble was around. And still, it was that beast of a fate which brought an end to all the things she believed in. It destroyed the possibility of her supposed-to-be heartwarming reunion with her father and it marked the end of the anticipated but surprising meetings she had with a boy named Lemony Snicket.

She was sure she stared at the boy with too much anger in her eyes. After all, he was the one who pushed her father into the mouth of the beast. He killed her him right in front of her when he had, in fact, promised that he'd help in finding him. Lemony never did bring her any closer to finding Armstrong Feint, which was why she trusted Hangfire more. When Lemony said something was tugging at his guts all along, Ellington was convinced he was lying. He'd said he didn't want to believe it, that he's been thinking about it: that probably, possibly, Hangfire and Armstrong Feint could be the same person. But whether or not that was truly the reason why he never told her about it, she just couldn't face Lemony the same way she always did.

She was so angry at him despite the fact that she had always liked his company. She did. She liked his company very much even if he didn't drink coffee, even if he was shorter than her, and even if he didn't understand how much her father meant to her. She sobbed more at the thought and she can see, without raising her head, that the other person was staring at her. She was not alone in the jail cell, after all. She was sharing it with another girl named Kit and she could not easily look up at her because she possessed the same eyes as that boy. Kit Snicket held the same sense of smartness as his brother and that was probably the reason why she was silent all along, waiting for Ellington until she was done crying before saying anything.

"You don't have to stop, you know." Even she sounded a bit like him. "We were taught not to let our emotions get in our way, but I don't think that's always true."

"You… and your brother and your unusual education," Ellington started. "Your brother most of all…" She wanted to finish talking, but she doesn't know how to.

"My brother?" Kit said, with a tone Ellington found hard to recognize. Whether it contained sympathy or pride or anything at all, she wasn't sure. "He truly is a bit stubborn. I haven't talked to him comfortably ever since we've been trained. We were told not to recognize each other whenever we meet, that must have made him seem quite apathetic. But even so, even if it doesn't show much on his face, I know he cares about people a lot." She paused for a while, looking carefully at Ellington as if she were inspecting her companion in the dimly lit cell. "I know he cared about you. He gets attached to people without saying it. So I cannot imagine how hard it must have been for him to say goodbye to the ones he left." She paused again, wondering if Ellington was still listening. She was greeted back with eyes that faintly glinted. "I know, and I'm sure you have noticed, that he values nobility above all. Often times, it is often our values that keep us apart from society. I'm sure that you have seen that on the back of his hand, when he waved goodbye, that it's his notion of nobility that will mark his solitude."

Ellington looked outside. The night was dark and she had no idea where they were exactly at the moment. She thought about Lemony, and how a shame it was that their last time seeing each other was one that left her with an impression of him as a murderer.

"Even so…" Ellington said quietly. "He could've just let my father off. He didn't have to kill him." Ellington expected Kit to react violently, to lash at her, for subtly calling his brother a monster, or something of equal weight. But Kit remained calm. Ellington could have even sworn she'd seen Kit's lips curve to a subtle smile.

"What else could have happened, Ellington?" Kit said. "What could have happened if it wasn't your father who was fed to that beast? With all of you unmistakably vulnerable at that situation, anything could have happened and anyone could have been dead. My brother chose the path to his blame because even if we didn't fully understand it yet, I believe he believed that was for the greater good." Kit could feel Ellington shifting from her position. "Hangfire wanted to tame nature, Ellington. He wanted to rule over the lawless. How strongly do you believe he'd change if what happened tonight didn't happen? How strongly would you believe that his thirst for dominance over nature will lessen with every passing minute he stays handcuffed? Do you believe… that you'll be able to spend a good life with him knowing he led you on for his greed? If your father was alive then you are not supposed to be here. It is him who I will be sharing this cell with, not you. And you... you will never know if justice was truly served unless you'd see him again, Ellington. Evil doesn't always end up in jail."

"But they would have arrested me still. Like how they have arrested me now!" Ellington replied, not backing down.

Kit looked at her intently. Ellington had the impression that she was being read. "Did you imagine for once that you'd be spending both of your lives in jail? You do not deserve to be locked behind bars, Ellington, not especially for a crime your father committed." From the slight rays of moonlight making its way towards the darkness of their cell, Ellington was not sure if Kit was having fun talking to her like this, or if she is simply doing it because it's what's supposed to be done. It reminded her too much of how Lemony persuades her to join their side. 

"You're just backing him up because he's your brother," Ellington said, with all the bits of bitterness from the last coffee she had stuck in her throat. She remembered it was Lemony she had last shared a coffee with. The thought annoyed her.

"He is my brother, yes." Kit replied, in which Ellington noticed a slight change of her tone. "But we've been taught not to recognize each other, as I have said before. With our upbringing, having a brother is like having none. I do not support him because of blood, but because what he did was what I would have done too if I was in his position. Yes, it is probably definitely because of our education. But the question you need to ask is this: is it more beastly to become a murderer than to set one free?"

That question sounded like something Lemony would have asked her. She didn't know how to respond. So many thoughts were crashing into her mind, she didn't know how to organize them all.

"From what I've seen, Ellington, the people in that town is too fragile. In that single event, the two types of people in my question were made. In that single event, my brother had become a murderer, and the people had become not more ghastly than he is. They have set a murderer free. They have set one free because of blood... because those who enforce your peace and order smiles down on the one who disrupted it. And they have put you here, an innocent girl who was only doing terrible things for the person she loves, to be stripped off of her freedom." At this point, Kit stopped talking. Ellington wondered if she'd had trouble continuing her sentences too, but it seemed too far-fetched. Kit and Lemony, and probably everyone from their organization seemed to have a string of words continuously flowing out of their mouths. She remembered not quite long ago, when she had sat along with Lemony's associates, that he spoke in front of them with so much conviction and knowledge. She'd known at that moment that Lemony wasn't any other boy she had met before and that he's probably the only one she will meet who carries the same sense of dignity.

"He tried to do one last thing, Ellington." Kit continued. "He tried to convince them to let you go and have the son of those officers take your place." At this point, Kit looked at her the same way Lemony would have had. "I think you have forgotten that last bit. Defending someone else's reputation is not something a murderer who kills for the sake of their goals would do."

"Stop talking…" Ellington said, and she couldn't help the tears now either. Yes, her father and Lemony may have been both murderers and that there's a fine line which separates both of their motives. Yes, her father has been terrible, but it wasn't her fault that she is his daughter and that she longs for his presence.

"Please…" She was wiping her eyes furiously.

"I apologize if I may have been interfering too much, Ellington. I really am." Kit said, and it was the first time Ellington have heard feelings in her voice. "I have said what I wanted to say, so I will stop now."

For a moment it stayed like that. For a long moment she cried, and the tears keep coming in. The sound of her sobs is what filled that cell with life. The thoughts of all her actions and all Lemony's actions and all her father's actions are what kept her going. The feeling of loneliness is what kept her going. Kit's quietness is what kept her going, and Ellington wasn't sure, for the tears were blocking her vision, but she might have seen Kit do the same: hiding her head in the crook of her elbows and holding back her emotions.

"He said…" Ellington said, when she thought she can speak properly. She was wrong. Her huffs of breath kept interrupting her. "He said… that if I'd… If I've had defeated Hangfire, then I am… I am already part of your side."

Kit took a while to answer, probably because she didn't know that Lemony has been gathering his own associates in his stay at the town.

"Then you probably deserve it." Kit finally said. "In the world today, it is hard to find beings who are well-read and are ready to uphold justice and nobility in the face of adversary. If he had chosen you, then he probably believed in you."

"He had chosen more. Those people have helped him. Not one of them betrayed him. I betrayed him from time to time!"

"And did he give up on you?" Ellington was taken aback. Kit's words were as sharp as the Bombinating Beast's claws.

"He picked blindly on me."

Kit nodded her head solemnly. "Even justice is blind, Ellington, but my brother can see perfectly well…" It was at that moment that Ellington was assured that Kit has had her own share of tears too. Her eyes, despite the lack of illumination from outside, were glinting. But she turned her head to the landscape before Ellington can speak. "I miss him so much."

"I… miss him too," Ellington said, so quietly she could have sworn she was the only one who heard it.

"It's not ridiculous to miss someone you have just seen. Look at me, I have seen him wave goodbye, but I want nothing more than to hold him now, so tightly. He is my brother, after all." Kit said, and stared at Ellington for as hard as she could. Ellington wasn't sure if she should stare back at her eyes and see Lemony in it. She wasn't sure if she could handle it. But before she could turn away, Kit continued to speak. "Do you… like my brother, Ellington?"

"I like his company," Ellington said, gripping the bars and staring at the moon outside. The world seemed so peaceful, so quiet as if the night has not released a creature that bore its color moments ago. She cast a sideways glance at Kit who let out a little laugh.

"Those things are the same." Kit said.

Is it? Ellington thought. After all, Lemony had said the same to her. He had said he liked her company, right before he promised her places.

"It is tragic." Kit said, holding back what seemed to be another involuntary sob. "That could be the last, Ellington. Like you, that could be the last time I'll ever see the face of my brother."

Ellington didn't answer. She knew that, of course. She knew, even if her father had been alive. Even if she hadn't seen Lemony feed her father to the beast, she knew that the two of them would never be in the same place again. Look at what has happened in the town. Two strangers both came to the same place looking for the same thing. Their presence had caused all the town's mysteries to unravel and their legends to step out from fiction. They shouldn't be in the same place at the same time. There is only one point in this fragmented world where both of them are allowed to appear together — Corner of Caravan and Parfait. She can't just believe she can easily find places like that. Not after everything that has happened.

"I guess some people are meant to meet only once, don't they?" Ellington said, surprised to see that there's still a bit of coffee left in her throat.

She wasn't wrong, but for the first time since she found herself in Stain'd-by-the-Sea, the first time since she believed a statue of a beast was all it takes to bring her father back, she hoped she was.


End file.
